Why brand consistency doesn’t mean identical offerings across channels

From its earlier perceived role as a quick way to acquire new customers and new sales, the web’s real utility is emerging as a brand extender for the multi-channel retailers that now for the most part dominate online selling, AnswerThink’s managing director Ken Goldberg tells Internet Retailer. For that reason, the trend among those merchants is moving toward creating as much consistency as possible between web, store and catalog offerings, he adds. But scratch a little deeper and, and retailers are finding that creating the impression of consistency doesn’t necessarily mean that web, store and catalog offerings must always be identical, he says.

Catalogs, for instance, typically out in front as far as the early presentation of new seasonal merchandise, can test response that could affect what shows up later in stores. And the web can carry liquidation merchandise after the items are no longer included in catalogs or available in stores.

Retailers are choosing to be inconsistent in their web site, stores and catalog in ways that make sense, says Goldberg. The trick to maintaining the general impression of consistency is to define what the brand is about and stick with it, he says. “If you’re about incredible prices, then you need to have incredible prices everywhere. If you’re about incredible service, you need to carry that through. It’s extraordinarily difficult to have the same assortment on the store at the same time you have it on the web and in the catalog, so it’s okay to have web-, store- or catalog-only offerings,” he says. “But there needs to be major overlap so you’re telling customers the same story.”